Lenny's Newsletter · Product & Work
TIER 5 2021-05-04
> ## Q: I’m just starting out as a PM and wondering what makes product managers *great*. What habits should I be building early on? I was a very mediocre PM at first—I wouldn’t have hired me. But I did learn fast, mostly by watching how the best PMs operated. How they ran meetings, how they organized documents, how they made decisions—and then modeling these behaviors and habits. > #### Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. > > #### —James Clear These observations all went into a list that I’ve been adding to and refining over the years, and your question was a great forcing function to synthesize the list and turn it into something useful. Below, you’ll find what to me are the 14 most important habits of highly effective product managers. Why 14? Because PM’ing is at least twice as hard as [normal life](https://www.amazon.com/Habits-Highly-Effective-People-Powerful/dp/0743269519). Don’t get overwhelmed by this list. There’s a lot here, yes, but you don’t need to nail all of these overnight, or ever. My advice to you is to skim through the list, pick one habit you want to work on, and focus on that habit for the next two weeks. If you want more time, stick with it. Otherwise, pick a new habit. Take it easy, but keep at it. For extra credit, start your own list! Watch the best PMs around you and jot down what they’re doing well. If you note any other essential habits for new, highly effective PMs to develop, leave a comment 👇 [Leave a comment](https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/14-habits-of-highly-effective-product/comments) ## 14 habits of highly effective product managers  #### 1. Great PMs take pride in the clarity and conciseness of their documents, emails, presentations, and meetings They know that people judge the quality of their thinking by the quality of their writing and speaking, and that effective communication is the *most* fundamental PM skill. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. Ask your manager (and ideally a trusted peer) to actively give you brutally honest feedback on your docs, meetings, and presentations. 2. Leverage the [Minto Pyramid and the SCR framework](https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/minto-pyramid-principle-scr) when crafting an argument. 3. Start a “[swipe file](https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/new-small-business-must-have-a-swipe-file.html)” where you save examples of well-executed documents, emails, presentations, etc. that you can later come back to for inspiration.  #### 2. Great PMs build an aura of “I’ve got this” They rarely drop balls, they come prepared, and their colleagues know that when they take on a task, it’ll get done. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. Be very selective with what you take on (say *no*!), and spend more time than anyone else on the things you do take on. 2. Prioritize *and* communicate: When you’re asked to do something new, first determine its priority (i.e. slot it into your already existing set of priorities) and then make sure to communicate that priority to the person (i.e. where it sits in your list of priorities). Both steps are essential to set accurate expectations. 3. Keep a [Waiting For list](https://how-to-gtd.blogspot.com/2012/06/waiting-for-list.html) to avoid losing open threads.  #### 3. Great PMs hold the bar high for the work they, and their teammates, do They resist the urge to let people settle for good enough. They push their team, and themselves, to make documents clearer, to make meetings more valuable, and to help people do the best work of their lives. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. When you see subpar performance, don’t ignore it. Push back, e.g. “Hey, this strategy doc is confusing, tbh—what if you tweak X, Y, and Z to clarify your point?” 2. When you’re about to share a PRD/one-pager, ask yourself: What’s *one* thing I could do to make this doc more succinct? 3. Make sure to review each major document, meeting, and presentation that your team is outputting—make sure the work your team puts out into the org is always A+. #### 4. Great PMs hunt for misalignment and quickly push everyone back into alignment They know that team dysfunction is often rooted in people simply having different information, motives, or priorities. They know that rooting these out is some of the highest-leverage work they can ever do. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. When reviewing new designs, always bring people back to “What problem are we trying to solve here?” 2. When you get a hint that team members are misaligned (e.g. quoting data not everyone has seen, optimizing for different goals, shifting priorities), just say, “We may be misaligned on this. What’s your understanding of X?” 3. Create, and keep coming back to, a source-of-truth document that crystallizes the goal, the succinct problem being solved, key assumptions, and key decisions.  #### 5. Great PMs always have a point of view, but loosely held They know they aren’t on the team simply to coordinate other people’s work—that their team is looking to them for new ideas, novel insights, and to push their thinking. They also know they need to be ready to quickly change their POV when they have new information. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. Keep this question in your mind: If someone were to ask for my opinion right now, what would I say? 2. When you don’t have a strong POV (e.g. which design to go with, whether to launch the experiment or not), create a simple pros and cons list. 3. When you change your point of view based on new information, share it publicly. Make it very clear you aren’t stuck in your views. #### 6. Great PMs ruthlessly prioritize, both the team’s work and their own They know that there are always more ideas than time, and that the greatest gift they can give their team is *focus*. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. Say no. Or “not yet.” Prioritizing is another word for sequencing—make it clear that if it isn’t a priority today, that doesn’t mean it won’t ever happen. 2. Try using the phrase “ruthless prioritization” when prioritizing as a team or saying no to an ask. 3. Align with your team and your manager on a single prioritized source-of-truth roadmap. All changes to the plan need to be updated here, which will automatically surface trade-offs and constraints.  #### 7. Great PMs endlessly look for blockers to unblock They’re always on the hunt for bottlenecks, unmade decisions, and anything that is keeping their team from operating like a well-oiled machine. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. Always prioritize tasks that unblock your team members. 2. Ask your team members often: What’s slowing you down? 3. Look around corners—what’s a looming soon-to-be blocker that you can keep from becoming a blocker? #### 8. Great PMs build a tight leadership triad with their EM and DM They know that their team operates best when the leaders of the team speak with one voice, and since most of the team reports to the eng. manager and the design manager, it’s essential that these three leaders work as an aligned unit. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. Sit next to your EM and DM (when possible). 2. Have a weekly meeting to align on priorities, share information, and unblock the team. 3. Spend time outside of work hours in order to connect as humans. #### 9. Great PMs frequently remind teammates of how their work connects to the mission They know that people don’t work at companies to pull levers, move metrics, or hit goals. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. Include your team’s mission and/or vision in every strategy document. 2. In kickoff meetings, find opportunities to remind the team how this random project enables the team/company to come closer to its mission. 3. At the top of your roadmap documents, include your team vision or mission.  #### 10. Great PMs speak with their customers regularly They know that no matter how confident they are about what their customers want, they are frequently wrong. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. Create systems where you and your team interact with customers regularly, like a weekly “Lunch with a customer,” a monthly CX rotation, or a quarterly customer visit. 2. Make an agreement that for any feature that takes more than X weeks to design and build, you first talk to five potential users/customers to validate the desirability of the feature. 3. Build a one-on-one relationship with some of your larger customers, and use that connection to learn about their pain points, gather ideas, and get quick and raw feedback.  #### 11. Great PMs anticipate what’s around the corner so that they can get ahead of it They know that the most successful PMs are the most prepared PMs, and the best way to be prepared is to have more time to prepare. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. Schedule a 30-minute meeting with yourself, each Monday morning or Friday afternoon, to look at your upcoming week and note meetings and deliverables you need to get ahead of. 2. When you hear of priority or strategy changes happening up the ladder, ask yourself: How could this impact our team, and what could we start prepping now? 3. When everything is going smoothly, ask yourself: How could I help my team move even faster? #### 12. Great PMs make sure everyone has a chance to be heard They know that most of the best ideas won’t come from them, and that the simple act of listening goes a very long way. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. At the end of meetings, check in with people who’ve been quiet to see if they have anything to add. 2. Before finalizing your strategy, roadmap, or spec, give your team a chance to give feedback asynchronously. 3. Organize brainstorms and offer types of ideation sessions where team members can contribute their ideas. #### 13. Great PMs amplify the successes and contributions of team members They know that the success of a PM is measured primarily by the success of their team. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. Forward examples of great work to your teammates’ managers. 2. Highlight team members’ achievements in your team meetings and email updates. 3. Start a “#team-huzzah”-type Slack channel to celebrate wins, big and small.  #### 14. Great PMs bring good vibes to the team They know that they are the unofficial-but-de-facto leader of the team, and that the vibes they bring trickle down throughout the team. **Some ways to build this habit:** 1. Always start off each meeting with energy and positivity. 2. Find something fun for the team to do regularly—a weekly happy hour, a monthly team-building event. 3. Bring surprise and delight to regular events—a team band at your all-hands, goats on your Zoom calls, birthday surprises at your standup.  Leave a comment if you’ve found any other habits to be essential for new PMs to build. [Leave a comment](https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/14-habits-of-highly-effective-product/comments) *Have a productive and fulfilling week 🙏* ## **🔥 Featured job opportunities** #### Product Management 1. **Duolingo**: [Principal Product Manager](https://pallet.xyz/job/16daa6a1-ff27-4097-89cb-41f7a1b33aa6) (NY/Seattle) 2. **Companion Labs**: [Head of / Senior Product Manager](https://pallet.xyz/job/f1e8cbf6-7338-48ae-ba6f-2507b3427e0e) (SF) 3. **Curology**: [Group Product Manager, Growth & Subscription](https://pallet.xyz/job/400edfd5-43fb-45d1-a679-772cb7442b6e) (SF/Remote) 4. **Curology**: [Group Product Manager, Medical & Pharmacy Ops](https://pallet.xyz/job/f589c9bf-48c9-43df-8a3e-c418f92b715b) (SF/Remote) 5. **Grand Rounds**: [Senior Product Manager](https://pallet.xyz/job/8f22029f-7685-443c-b595-588326096967) (SF/Remote) 6. **ClassDojo:**[0 to 1 Product Manager](https://pallet.xyz/job/a207cd17-0dd5-45a3-9068-5cabd6b30193) (SF/Remote) 7. **AbstractOps:**[Head of 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**Imperfect Foods:**[Senior Product Designer](https://pallet.xyz/job/b9cab5f0-9bcb-4caf-a0bc-2443e4768b60) (Remote) 8. **Karat**: [First Designer](https://pallet.xyz/job/29a7b24a-2ba0-489e-8222-d5d2b0b68e43) (LA/Remote) *To browse ~200 open, or to add your open roles, [visit Lenny’s Job Board](https://lennysnewsletter.com/jobs).* ## **🧠 Inspiration for the week ahead** 1. **Watch:** [How to Draw a Self-Portrait in 11 Levels of Increasing Complexity](https://kottke.org/21/04/how-to-draw-a-self-portrait-in-11-levels-of-increasing-complexity) [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8T3cxSySI2Q) 2. **Listen**: [The 7 Powers with Hamilton Helmer & Jeff Lawson](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nfx-podcast/id1456824325?i=1000519248039) by NFX 3. **Read**: [99 Additional Bits of Unsolicited Advice](https://kk.org/thetechnium/99-additional-bits-of-unsolicited-advice/) by Kevin Kelly #### **How would you rate this week's newsletter? 🤔** [Great](https://t.sidekickopen82.com/s1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7kF8cV_VXW1CdjwB59hl3kW7_k2847sD3qkVNxJHk1CX2ZcW2bzNJl8lkfc1101?te=W3R5hFj4cm2zwW4cQKtC3KcLnYW4hLZp03ZVbTxW1JB0ML1--tKxW20ZTw51-YpBFW1W_jBk1ZmvHBW21j9tt1-_j_TW1Vnkcj1V3fMvw1V21pC4Hp2&si=7000000001348012&pi=6174bab6-7009-4402-a497-3d6f867fbea1) • [Good](https://t.sidekickopen82.com/s1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7kF8cV_VXW1CdjwB59hl3kW7_k2847sD3qkVNxJHk1CX2ZcW2bzNJl8lkfc1101?te=W3R5hFj4cm2zwW4cQKtC3KcLnYW4hLZp03ZVbTxW1JB0ML1--tKxW20ZTw51-YpBFW1W_jBk1ZmvHBW21j9tt1-_j_TW1Vnkcj1V3fMvw1V21pC4vX2&si=7000000001348012&pi=6174bab6-7009-4402-a497-3d6f867fbea1) • [Meh](https://t.sidekickopen82.com/s1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7kF8cV_VXW1CdjwB59hl3kW7_k2847sD3qkVNxJHk1CX2ZcW2bzNJl8lkfc1101?te=W3R5hFj4cm2zwW4cQKtC3KcLnYW4hLZp03ZVbTxW1JB0ML1--tKxW20ZTw51-YpBFW1W_jBk1ZmvHBW21j9tt1-_j_TW1Vnkcj1V3fMvw1V21pC4kr2&si=7000000001348012&pi=6174bab6-7009-4402-a497-3d6f867fbea1) **If you’re finding this newsletter valuable, consider sharing it with friends, or subscribing if you haven’t already.** Sincerely, Lenny 👋